Given that today is New Year's Eve, it shouldn't be surprising that there are barely any comics being released this week. There are a few exceptions, however — none of which should excite you more than SHIELD #1, which finally brings the TV show's team to the Marvel comic-verse.

• Abigail and the Snowman #1 (Boom) — When a young girl moves to a new town, she has a hard time making friends — that is, until she meets a yeti named Claude on the run from the government. Roger Landridge (W/A).

• SHIELD #1 (Marvel) — Fitz, Simmons, Skye and Melinda May make their comics debut, and their missions take them to every corner of the Marvel universe – and pair them with a wide assortment of heroes and villains we won't be seeing on Agents of SHIELD any time soon.

• Star Trek/Planet of the Apes #1 (Boom) — "What could possibly cause Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise to side with Dr. Zaius to protect Ape City? And what does Colonel George Taylor have to say about it? It's a madhouse! A madhouse!!" Scott and David Tipton (W), Rachael Stott (A).

** IMPORTANT **
The store will be closing at 4PM today and will be closed tomorrow.
We will reopen on Friday at 11AM.
Happy New Year.

It’s the head-to-head showdown comic book fans have been waiting for! This set contains everything two players need to settle the question once and for all… Can Batman take down The Joker or will he go mad trying?

The action is fast and furious, as players vie to add the right mix of components to their decks. When you’re ready, you can launch an attack directly at your arch nemesis! The first player to drop their opponent three times wins the game instantly, however, it will be harder to do each subsequent time. Also, if the main deck runs out, victory points are counted to determine the winner.

This set is a great introduction to the Cerberus Game Engine, which is used in the best-selling DC Comics Deck-building Game line of products. The addition of the direct attacks will appeal even to seasoned deck-building fans.

Batman and The Joker each come with three oversized character cards. When one is beaten in direct combat, the next one is revealed. The new one will have a boosted-up ability and will be harder to take down than the previous one. Naturally, the combatants can utilize Block cards to protect themselves. It’s a brand new experience, not to be missed!

Enter a galaxy far, far away in Imperial Assault, a tactical board game for two to five players!
Imperial Assault (FFG SWI01, $99.95) contains two complete games, each offering players a unique window into the Star Wars universe. In the campaign game, up to four players take on the roles of heroes of the Rebellion, attempting to uncover an Imperial plot to destroy the Rebellion. Alongside the campaign game, Imperial Assault players can experience a skirmish game that challenges two players to muster strike teams of Rebels, Imperials, and Mercenaries and battle head-to-head over conflicting objectives. Both games within Imperial Assault offer unique tactical challenges set in the midst of the Galactic Civil War.

I hope you reserved a copy.
There may be some copies available that are not spoken for, contact the store to find out.

p.s.
Don't forget in January the comic event of the year starts - the return of Star Wars to Marvel comics.
Look for our launch party details coming soon.
Sign up to receive Star Wars today !!

It was actually supposed to be in stock two weeks ago, but as revealed in this interview, it's just arriving today. That interview also provides a quick, bare-bones introduction to anyone who doesn't know about Krampus already:

The Krampus is a figure from Eastern European Holiday lore, a demonic creature who punishes wicked children on Christmas Eve, even as Santa rewards the good ones. In our book, the Krampus has been locked up for a few decades due to his inability to change with Secret Society of Santa Clauses' views on punishing the naughty.

You read that right, the Secret Society of Santa Clauses:

Look at them all! How awesome is that?

The entire book is that much fun. This isn't a kid's book, it's a little bit dark (which is to be expected with a Germanic whipping-demon), but Krampus will make an excellent seasonal gift for that person on your list with the twisted sense of humor. Come get a copy today!

Changes and some new exciting things are coming to Comic Store West in 2015.
We will be revealing the changes over the next several weeks so keep checking back.

SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
All of our subscribers have received subscription policy changes for 2015 in their pull boxes.

I just wanted to repeat what we are doing here.

We love reserving books for you, it's the cornerstone of what any good comic store does. We have never and will never charge you to be a subscriber. We offer all of our subscribers a discount on all of their purchases. However, we have some subscribers who are taking advantage of our service.

A quick review of subscriber boxes have uncovered comics that have been sitting in boxes for 2,3,4 and even 5 years. THIS CAN NO LONGER HAPPEN !!!!!

Beginning in 2015 ANY COMICS IN A PULL BOX, that are older than 6 weeks will NOT be eligible for the subscriber discount.

After 8 weeks comics remaining in pull boxes MAY be removed from the pull boxes and the subscriber MAY go on double secret probation and may no longer receive their discount and we may even close the subscriber box.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS

We order comics based on what the customer subscribes to and a few extras for the shelf. When the comics ship to us we are charged for them and pay for them. When they sit in customer boxes they do not generate money for us. The customer has to pay us for the comic that they 'ordered' from us for the store to make the money back that they originally paid out. So the store loses money if comics (or other product that was ordered and not paid for) do not get purchased in a timely manner.

We understand things can happen, if you come to us and let us know you are having a hardship and may be unable to pick up something timely we will work with you. But we can no longer hold stuff for the length of time we had in the past.

It's been a week now, so we're going to assume everyone's had a chance to see the winter finale of Agents of SHIELD. If you haven't, consider this a spoiler warning, because we're about to explain who all those characters were and what the heck is going on.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Stephen Kimble, who, in 1990, patented an idea for a Web Blaster toy that would spray foam by means of a trigger in the palm. In other words, this thing. He took the idea to Marvel, who passed, but when another company began making the same thing for them, he sued for patent infringement.

Marvel settled in 2001 - they purchased the patent rights and gave him 3% of the royalties until the patent expired in 2010.

Kimble sued again in 2006, when Hasbro started making the things. He apparently didn't like the fact that they were being sold with masks and other roleplay gear. Marvel counter-sued, and the case was finally settled in 2013. Marvel won, thanks to Brulotte v. Thys Co., a case that forbids patent holders from collecting royalties after the patent has expired. Now Kimble wants SCOTUS to overturn that 1964 decision, claiming it's the "product of a bygone era."

That's what makes this interesting: the court agreeing to hear this case isn't really about Spider-Man, it's about whether the march of time requires re-examination of past decisions. In other words, just because something is settled once, it doesn't mean it's settled for all time.

Changes and some new exciting things are coming to Comic Store West in 2015.
We will be revealing the changes over the next several weeks so keep checking back.

Game, Statue, and Toy pre-orders:
Any special orders (non-comics) MUST be picked up with 2 weeks of arriving in the store (UNLESS SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE IN ADVANCE). We will date your item after we call you to let you know the item has arrived. The item MUST be picked up within 2 weeks of hearing from us or we will put it out to sell (and you will not be able to pre-order items from us).

We will be happy to give a 20% discount off of the purchase price if the item is paid for in full at time of order.

If you have non-comic items on hold now, please come and pick up before the end of the year. We will be going through all non-comic holds and cleaning up after Christmas.

Small World expansion A Spider’s Web features entries from Andrew Capel, Alex and Bill Gurski, and Randy Pitchford, “Spiderine” backers from the Small World 2 Kickstarter campaign. It contains three new Races: Ice Witches, Skags and Slingmen; as well as three new Special Power badges: Copycat, Lava and Soul-Touch.

This expansion comes complete with a plastic storage tray designed to store all the badges and tokens from A Spider’s Web, plus it includes room for all the additional recent Small World expansions.

Changes and some new exciting things are coming to Comic Store West in 2015.
We will be revealing the changes over the next several weeks so keep checking back.

For those viewing our website on a mobile device (which apparently is quite a few of you) you should see drastic changes beginning this week. We have added a mobile friendly website to hopefully make your online experience better than ever.